Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and his Singaporean counterpart K. Shanmugam on Sept. 8 held talks during the latter’s Sept. 8-10 official visit to Vietnam.

FM Minh described the visit as an important event contributing to boosting the two countries’ relations.

FM K. Shanmugam expressed his impressions of Vietnam ’s success in socio-economic development and his belief that the country will gain greater achievements.

The two FMs affirmed that Vietnam and Singapore will continue developing friendship and multifaceted cooperation in the spirit of the Declaration on the Vietnam-Singapore Comprehensive Cooperation Framework in the 21 st Century, signed in 2004.

They discussed plans to boost bilateral cooperation, including preparations for the official friendship visit to Singapore by State President Truong Tan Sang.

They also appreciated the annual political consultative mechanism at the Deputy Foreign Minister level and agreed to hold the 6 th consultative meeting in Singapore later this year.

The two FMs expressed their joy at the effective cooperation in trade and investment between the two countries and believed that the two sides should seek measures to allow more Vietnamese goods to enter the Singaporean market and enterprises of the two countries to boost linkages.

They praised the effective implementation of the Vietnam-Singapore Connectivity Agreement and expressed wishes that the two sides would expand the connectivity to urban management and human resource development.

The two FMs also exchanged views on other cooperative fields of education, tourism, culture and people exchanges.

They agreed to maintain close coordination and cooperation at regional and international forums like the UN, East Asia Summit, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum and Trans-Asia-Pacific Economic Partnership Agreement.

They shared the same view that peace, stability, security and maritime safety in the East Sea are of common interests of countries in the region and related sides needed to boost exchanges and consultation peacefully, avoiding the use of force.

They highly valued the approval of guidelines for the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties on the East Sea (DOC) by ASEAN and China as well as their agreement to work towards building the Code of Conduct of Parties on the East Sea (COC).

The same day, the visiting Singaporean FM K. Shanmugam was received by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who expressed his pleasure at the fine development of the two countries’ relations and expressed his wish that the two sides will continue to boost cooperation in every field, with priority on the agreement to connect the two economies.

FM K. Shanmugam informed PM Dung that Singapore hailed the guidelines for the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties on the East Sea (DOC) and expressed his wish that the Code of Conduct of Parties on the East Sea (COC) would soon be discussed and approved.

He added that Singaporean businesses consider Vietnam an attractive destination for investment with an effective and stable investment environment. He also expressed his hope that the Vietnamese Government will continue to create favourable conditions to attract more Singaporean investors.

He praised Vietnam ’s achievements in food production and hoped that Vietnam will boost cooperation and to become a stable supplier of food for Singapore in the future./.